What is RA?

Roosevelt Academy (RA) is a small Liberal Arts & Sciences university college, offering courses in Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science. Located conveniently in the center of Middelburg, the capital city of the Province of Zeeland, RA is home to 600 students of whom approximately 400 are Dutch or Flemish, while the remaining student body covers a wide range of nationalities.

Founded by Utrecht University, RA is one of Utrecht University’s international honors colleges. Roosevelt Academy students are registered officially in Utrecht and receive their honors degree from this highly-acclaimed institution, one of the oldest in the Netherlands.

The International Honors Program

RA offers students a residential setting in which the foundations are laid for a successful academic or professional career. Our aim is to teach our students how to communicate effectively and how to develop a critical, yet creative way of thinking. Among the special characteristics of the Academy are:

• small-scale classes (with no more than 25 students)
• highly interactive method of instruction
• interdisciplinary approach
• tutorial system
• all classes are taught in English
  
• residential college
• international staff and faculty

RA’s tight-knit academic community provides an environment that encourages intellectual exchange between students and professors in a friendly and informal atmosphere.

Our educational system is aimed at giving students all the attention they need by providing each of them with a personal tutor who advises them in their choice of studies or courses, who helps them with any question or problem they might encounter and who basically serves as their personal coach throughout their stay at RA. This kind of personal attention also extends to the classroom, where classes are never larger than 25 (in contrast to regular universities where classes sometimes exceed more than 100) and the method of instruction is highly interactive and intensive.

RA's Educational Philosophy

The educational philosophy as envisioned by the Academy’s founders is based on the idea that a student benefits most from learning more about a variety of disciplines. Essentially, this means that RA students put together their own program with courses offered by the Academy’s four departments: Academic Core, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Science.

Students are required to take 24 courses in six semesters (= three years) in order to obtain either a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree, awarded by Utrecht University. Courses offered range from a wide variety of disciplines, including anthropology, antiquity, chemistry, economics, French, German, geography, history, international law, life sciences, linguistics, mathematics, music and drama, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, rhetoric, sociology, Spanish, and many more.

Students choose a major at the end of their first year and have the option of also taking a minor in another discipline. In addition, RA participates in Utrecht University’s student exchange program with the world’s top universities and colleges. The Academy has also established its own exchange programs with similar top colleges in North America and Europe, such as the University of Nebraska at Kearney. In the near future more programs will be added.